Just introducing myself ;)

[Maple128]

Hello there! Me and my family (i'm the eldest daughter) recently became the owner of a 5 month old Male (sexed) DYH amazon, and I thought it would be beneficial for everyone in the family (little DHY included) if I joined the forum to get advice from time to time on any issues that may occur in the future and to share stores as I learn about this cheeky bird. So far everything's been pretty good, he's healthy, active, and quite the little clown. We've named him Monty after the MontyPython skit, hard to go wrong with a name like that. Hes also been attempting to speak, not very successfully, but cute nonetheless. As for biting he's been a little nippy, but he never bites hard and the family rule is, do not reward the bite by saying anything, sit there, take it, and when hes done, remove you hand, smile and pretend it didn't happen. Now I was curious, does this rule make sense? Does not reacting to the nip discourage it later? And one more starting question, i've already started target training with him and he's picked it up very fast, but does biting the target encourage the biting behavior? If so, should i click and reward him right before he touches the target instead of letting him bite it?

Anyways! I'm excited to join this bird community and to listen to what you guys have to say! ~Maple128

*edit- My avatars the little handsome guy :3

 

[Peppo]

What a handsome young lad! He has that mischievous look in his eye... I would say that when he bites he needs to know he has done wrong.immediately. He bites, you say no bite in a stern voice, give him the evil eye and return him to his cage. Ignore him for 5 minutes. Like a time out for toddlers. No drama but he will realize he bites he looses your attention. If he doesn't know he did anything wrong why would he stop doing it? Anyway, he his adorable! Good luck and welcome. I love these bad boys!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hello there, and welcome to the forums Maple & Monty!

Handsome indeed! Gotta LOVE those DYHs!! :smile015:

I completely agree with Peppo about the nipping/biting part. If you don't react at all, he will never know he did anything wrong.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you and Monty! Ignoring the bite is not the way to go! Look up threads on MonicaMC and Birdman666.

 

[henpecked]

Welcome to the forum. Does he have a bit of Panama in his parents? How much does he weigh? Yes , you need to teach not to bite and what is too hard. (sure looks like a Panama but it's hard to tell the difference at that age)

 

[SilverSage]

It depends on why he is biting. If he is biting because he doesn't know how hard is too hard, then ignoring it will not teach him any better. If he is biting to get a reaction, then ignoring takes away the reward and is good. If he is biting out of fear, you need to figure out what is scaring him and remove it. If he is biting to get his own way, you need to know what it is he wants and not reward the bite, but also ask yourself if you are causing the bite.

Not all bites are the same, so they need different responses. Remember, he is a wild animal even if hand raised, not a domesticated dog or cat best of luck!

 

[Maple128]

Thank you every one for the welcome and the advice! I will definitely try to use it For the most part I believe he's biting either out of playful excitement or sometimes it's just a little warring please don't pick me up nip. He's usually pretty gentle about it but it would probably be best to curb the nipping while he's young, but we know what expect in a few years haha. He does have a little complaint kind of growl he uses to let us know that now is not pick up the bird time, I have a feeling that it's still a lot of us learning him and him learning us, and building up that trust bond.

As for the Panama I don't believe so, his parents both had the full yellow heads, not as extensive as some others I've seen but still the full yellow. He does have some very dark feathers around his neck which I find neat.* Also! He weighs 386g

Once again thx for all of the advice!

 

[SilverSage]

There is a lot of learning to be done with any new bird lucky for your bird you have a good open attitude. When we are open to input it helps our birds, we just have to be carful who we listen to lol. Welcome to the community!

 

[JerseyWendy]

You will so enjoy watching Monty go through his gradual color changes.

Here's a thread with extensive photos of how my 'little' guy has been transforming.
http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/29506-magna-dyh-changing-colors-photo-extensive.html

And here's a quick one of Sam when he was 4 months:

 

[Terry57]

Hello and welcome! Monty is beautiful, I so hope you'll share pics of him as he changes, like Wendy did with her gorgeous Sam! I'm really glad you joined us

 

[Birdman666]

As for biting he's been a little nippy, but he never bites hard and the family rule is, do not reward the bite by saying anything, sit there, take it, and when hes done, remove you hand, smile and pretend it didn't happen. Now I was curious, does this rule make sense? Does not reacting to the nip discourage it later?

And one more starting question, i've already started target training with him and he's picked it up very fast, but does biting the target encourage the biting behavior? If so, should i click and reward him right before he touches the target instead of letting him bite it?

With respect to question number 1 - DON'T REACT TO THE BITES IS VERY BAD ADVICE! By not reacting to bites, the bird does not get the feedback he needs to learn to control his bite pressure.

What you DO NOT do when a bird bites, is show fear, or let him get his way on anything. I.E. biting because he wants something, and then you reward him by giving him what he wants - YOU JUST TRAINED THE BIRD TO BITE YOU!

When a bird uses too much bite pressure the phrase I use is "Too hard!" and I give a little wiggle with the hand he is perched on, and also give him a dirty look. (Birds take visual clues from body posture - especially amazons! The STINK EYE works! After awhile, once they have bonded, you can give them the stink eye from across the room, and they KNOW to calm down.)

If he doesn't immediately lower his bite pressure, then I set him down, and wait for him to calm down a bit before resuming the game. Amazons are notorious for getting wound up, going into "overload" mode (they play rough!) and losing control of their bite pressure. When that starts happening, simply anticipate it, and let them calm down before handling them again.

YOU DON'T SHOW FEAR, BUT YOU MUST COMMUNICATE WHEN THE BIRD IS BITING YOU, OTHERWISE HE THINKS WHAT HE IS DOING IS OKAY, AND THAT IS WHAT WILL CAUSE THE BITING TO GET WORSE!

As to your second question? I doubt that letting him bite the target is what's causing the biting issues to become worse. I think it's the above scenario.

 

[Maple128]

Good to know that the stink eye works! I'll definitely have to try out what you suggested and relay that info to the rest of my family and make sure we're all on board with it

 

[BirdLover80]

Maple, my IRN does the same kind of nipping when I try to get her to step up. It's not a hard bite, just a little nip. She'll also sometimes let out a low growl, like you mentioned. It's like nope, back outta my space a little lol. Anywho, welcome to the forum. Your DYH is so cute.

 

[wrench13]

Welcome to the neighborhood. My little Yellow SHoulder Amazon, Salty , likes to play rough and will sometimes exceed what is acceptable bite pressure. When he does that I tell him in a quiet voice 'Too Hard, Too Hard' and slow down the play a bit to let him calm down.

If we're not playing and he clamps down hard, he gets a firm, loudish "NO" and he immediately lets go. But understand that beaks are the third hand and parrots use them accordingly, gripping things to help them climb around, and your finger, hand, arm, neck, nose, ear etc may just be a protuberance like on a rock climbing wall to them. Just never show fear! Think like Ahhhnold in Kidergarten Cop. If you show fear, they will walk all over you!

 

[Maple128]

So! we've been trying what you guys have suggested and so far it's doing pretty good, when we let him know his bite is too hard he usually stops or uses a lot less pressure. (Except when i had to pick him up to put him in his cage this morning so i could go to school OTL he was NOT happy about that) and hes getting a little less beaky, which is all good. ALSO! this morning he thought he would try out "Singing" the sounds that came out of the little beak to glee songs was amusingly bad, and loud, but amusing none the less, he even said hello a few times, almost clear enough to be a word haha.

 

[Psittaciformes]

Guess I'm late to the party but welcome to the forums! lol